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Apparently named after William, son of George IV, after a royal visit in 1821. This begs the question: What was it called before that? There must have been a native Irish name. Unfortunately Price provides no answer to this in PNCW. On the map of Wicklow contained in Wright's A Guide to the County of Wicklow (1827) this area is named Commons B.nulty, i.e. Commons of Ballynulty, which is a sub-division of the townland of Annacrivey. Since Prince William's Seat and Knocknagun they are only separated by a small saddle, it is possible that the name Knocknagun was applied to both peaks, but this is only conjecture.
Prince William's Seat is the 407th highest place in Ireland.Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/352/?PHPSESSID=e342j5sfdgb5fsp2o3bhfddgs3

One place to start is from the Glencullen River valley at around O172204A. Walk SE along the old bog road into the forest following the Wicklow Way signs until the way emerges from the trees at around O1820 1848B, a good jumping off point. Leave the way and head SW around 300m to the summit.
Another way to get to the same jumping off point is also from the Wicklow Way, this time starting from the south at the car park around O186168C.
It's also possible to get to the top on a boggy path from Knocknagun to the west.
Views from the top are fairly unimpeded towards the east coast including Bray. Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/352/comment/5112/

Glencullen Mountain?

by barryd 23 Jan 2011

Prince William's Seat and Knocknagun. These are the OS names for two popular hills between Glencullen & Glencree and people often enquire as to the identity of Prince William. It has been suggested that it's named after William, son of George IV, after a royal visit in 1821. Whilst it's possible that there might be a connection with this, in the mind of the official responsible for collecting names at the time, I think it's probable that there is an older origin... Though it's impossible to be 100% definitive, the evidence points to another mix up here by the OS. If we look at maps that predate the OS survey, the situation is different.
For the detailed explanation of this with maps, please refer to the Placenames & Heritage part of my website at http://www.eastwestmapping.ie/placenames-heritage#p10 and scroll to the bottom. In summary, I think the evidence points to the hill labelled by the OS as Prince William's Seat should 'properly' be called Glencullen Mountain and the hill labelled by the OS as Knocknagun should be Cloghnagun with the name (Fitz)Williams Seat for the large granite tor there known as Cloch na gCon. Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/352/comment/6212/

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Picture from padodes

padodes on Prince William's Seat, 2007

by padodes 28 Dec 2007

A Christmas bouquet placed by someone at the foot of the trig pillar on Prince William's Seat: even without memorials, people are remembered in the mountains. I have noticed of late that a noticeable amount of work is being done on all sides of Glencree Valley. A stretch of the Wicklow Way, passing between Prince William's Seat and Raven's Rock is being "upgraded" with a somewhat raised surface of pounded earth and sand, cut by drainage channels at intervals. Further down, on the Curtlestown side, where the way had been all but obliterated by tree felling, this development is welcome, but it isn't altogether obvious why a reasonably valid path higher up needed "improvement". At Cloon, also on the north side of the valley, ample parking space is now provided on both sides of the road, and a wide forestry track takes strollers almost up to Glencree itself. On the south side, the car park at Crone has been greatly widened and a new path has been laid out from close to Ride Rock, overlooking Powerscourt Waterfall, right across the lower forested, north-facing slope of Maulin. The intention would seem to be to improve the recreational value of all these forest areas, which, being so close to Dublin, are popular at weekends and good starting points for more strenuous hillwalks. It's true that the erosion on the adjacent Djouce and Maulin is considerable, but perhaps not all the remedial work that is being undertaken by volunteers is the best. A few months ago, I met a group of people on the path leading up to Maulin from Glensoulan who were assiduously flattening every protruding stone they could find. In the end, the only thing the path will need will be a bit of tarmacadam. Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/352/comment/2930/

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Picture from simon3

simon3 on Prince William's Seat, 2003

by simon3 20 Jan 2003

According to the Ordnance Survey this mountain is named after the visit of Prince William in 1821 with his father, the reprobate George IV. To the west is Lugnagun, reached by an unpleasantly eroded and boggy track. Certainly there is a fine view from the top which, as you can see from the picture below, has a trig pillar. The view includes the east of Howth Head, looking over Dublin Bay and Dun Laoghaire. Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/352/comment/312/

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darrenf on Prince William's Seat, 2009

by darrenf 15 Jul 2009

While staying in the fine an oige hostel at knockree on Friday night last I pondered where to head for the following day. Maulin, Djouce and Prince Willams Seat were all in the running.....but with the weather in the early 20s I decided that crone would be a little too congested for my liking. Headed off from the hostel early saturday morning and followed the WW right up and around knockree hill. The WW will take you right around knockree hill and onto the surrounding third class road which will eventually lead you through to the woods at curtlestown. Onwards and upwards toward prince williams seat you go. It should be noted that you must eventually leave the WW and make your own way to the summit cairn. An extended lunch stop was enjoyed on this particularly intense summers afternoon. The views over to Dalkey, Dun Laoighaire and Howth made for a nice back drop. Once the farmers tan was topped up headed straight down prince williams and pushed our way through the young spruce forest onto a number of forest trackes. Sheet 56 seems accurate with its depeciation of these tracks. Continued down on various lonsome tracks (disturbing numerous red deer on the way) until we hit the carpark at cloon wood and from there walked along the road to enniskerry before picking the WW up once again and retraced our steps back to the hostel for a deserved break. A very enjoyable little outing I must admit, and having not crossed a soul all day perhaps one of the lesser explored hills in the area... Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/352/comment/3800/

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Picture from wicklore : View south from Prince William's Seat

Picture: View south from Prince William's Seat

wicklore on Prince William's Seat, 2008

by wicklore 15 Sep 2008

Photo taken from near the summit of Prince William's Seat with Djouce, War Hill, Maulin and Tonduff visible above the misty clouds. Trackback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/352/comment/3323/